In Conversation with Colin J. Paradine

I have been acting professionally for roughly 20 years. I started pursuing it in a professional manner right after I graduated from theater school in Toronto, Canada. During my three years there I studied the art of theater performance but after I graduated I already knew that I wanted to pursue a film and television career. At the amateur level, I started when I was in high school. A friend told me about an acting class he was talking locally and I decided to give it a shot. It was love! You couldn’t keep me from performing after that!

Did you study acting?
Colin Paradine (CP): Yes, I graduated from theater school as well as countless classes after theater school.

How did you get into actin?
Colin Paradine (CP): When I was 15 years old a friend told me about an acting class he was taking. At first, I was apprehensive because I was, and still am to a certain degree, a very shy kid. But after some coaxing from him, I joined. It was the best thing I had ever done. It opened up a whole new world to me and I was hooked.

How would you describe your acting?
Colin Paradine (CP): To put it as basic as I can, acting is making people believe that the character you are portraying is a living breathing person. Bringing an audience into your character’s world no matter how fantastical the character may or may not be.

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What acting courses have you taken and where did you take them?
Colin Paradine (CP): I have studied mainly in Toronto, Canada. I have taken improvisation classes, on camera technique classes, audition technique classes, commercial technique classes, acting technique classes, voice, movement and physical theater classes, voice over classes, stage combat classes, the list goes on and on.

Do you still take courses in acting to increase your knowledge of your craft?
Colin Paradine (CP): As often as I can, absolutely.

What is the most memorable screen character you have played?
Colin Paradine (CP): I played a corrupt cop in a short film called Stripped. He was a fun guy to get inside of, but the most memorable, for me, is the abusive husband I played in a film called Abolition. This was a huge hurdle for me since I’m nothing like this horrible, insecure guy I was playing.

Explain one creative choice you took on set?
Colin Paradine (CP): During a film shoot, I had a huge three page monologue that I had to say to the main character. The purpose of the monologue was basically story exposition and in all honesty, it read that way too. Not a lot of emotion behind it, just story facts. So I dug deep had tried to find the character’s emotional core. Turns out it was one of the more memorable scenes in the final cut.

Do you get offer from other film industries like Hollywood?
Colin Paradine (CP): I haven’t yet, but I am constantly working towards those goals.

What do you think actor can do to get into Hollywood?
Colin Paradine (CP): Work. Work hard at your craft. Take as many classes as you can from as many different teachers as you can. Acting is like a muscle. If you don’t exorcise it the muscle will atrophy. It’s the same thing with acting. Without classes and different points of view, you stagnate. Atrophy, if you will.

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What do you want from a director during a production?
Colin Paradine (CP): Communication. Without that, there is no direction. It’s puppetry.

Do you work based on instincts or do you use a acting technique?
Colin Paradine (CP): Both. I think it’s important to keep things as real as possible but still staying within the realms of responsibility when it comes to yourself and your scene partners. Instincts can help with the rawness of a scene where the technique can help keep you in check.

What situation helps you character during a production?
Colin Paradine (CP): Solitude. I prefer to be alone while I’m preparing for a scene.

How do you remain fresh on a film set?
Colin Paradine (CP): Revisit the script, time and time again. Helps keep my character’s emotional continuity in check.

When you are offered a role, what do you do?
Colin Paradine (CP): I do all of these things. I read the script first to find out what the story is about but more importantly, what my character’s story is. What his arc is. Then I begins to learn my line with rehearsals and many rereads of the script

How do you take a character in a script to a honest living person? Colin Paradine (CP): I was trained to find the character in the text. From the punctuation to the words used in their dialogue, it’s all laid out for the actor right there on the page. All you have to do is add characteristics, back story, etc and there you have. It sounds simple, but it’s not.

What acting technique do you use?
Colin Paradine (CP): I use whatever works for me in the project. I have used many different techniques but it really depends on the project and how familiar I am with my character.

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